NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court will hear on March 19 a clutch of pleas demanding that the rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, be stayed, and that no coercive steps be taken against persons belonging to Muslim community who have been deprived of the benefit of this law. The CAA rules were notified by the Union government on March 11.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud agreed to list the batch of over 200 petitions along with fresh applications on March 19 after senior counsel Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter, pressing for an urgent hearing.
“The petitions have been pending since 2019. Earlier, we did not press for a stay of the law because they (Centre) argued that rules were yet to be framed. Just before the general elections, they announced the rules. Once citizenships are granted, it would be difficult to reverse the process,” Sibal, appearing for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), submitted.
IUML is one of the petitioners in the court that have challenged the validity of the amendments and Section 6B in the Act which aim at granting fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, because of religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Apart from IUML, Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (a regional student outfit), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) have also moved separate applications seeking a stay on CAA rules.
Representing the Centre, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said that he has no difficulty if the court hears the case on any suitable day. “I would also like to say that none of the petitioners has the locus to say, ‘don’t grant citizenship’. As far the argument on elections is concerned, I will keep the politics out of the court,” Mehta added.
To this, the CJI said that the bunch of all 237 petitions in the matter can be listed on March 19. “All parties with diverse points… We can hear a few lawyers,” added justice Chandrachud.
A clutch of over two hundred connected petitions, filed in the top court since 2019, have challenged various CAA provisions on grounds of religious discrimination against Muslims and arbitrariness.
The petitioners include Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Union Muslim League, and its MPs, Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, RJD leader Manoj Jha, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, All Assam Students’ Union and Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman.
Responding to these petitions, the Centre’s affidavit in October 2022 stated that the legality of the CAA may not be within the scope of judicial review since matters of citizenship and foreign policy fall squarely within the domain of Parliament. The government asserted that issues concerning the sovereign plenary power of parliament, especially regarding citizenship, cannot be questioned by filing PILs. ( With Agency Inputs )